Founders: Origins
by Jamervan
Summary: This is a story about how the founders met and created Hogwarts. This is completely in my head, I did no research into Rowling's characters except what I gleaned from the books and movies and could remember. Rated T for some violent situations.
1. Chapter 1: Godric

**AN: Not only do I not own anything, but I did absolutely no research on JK Rowling's characters other than the books and movies. I seriously doubt this will match anything that has been released, but who knows, it might.**

 **Chapter 1: Godric**

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, a tall man in plate armor leans against a scarred tree. This man was rather muscular and built like he had been raised swinging his great sword. With eyes that almost seemed golden, dark auburn hair that just couldn't be tamed and a wild beard of the same color, add in his prowess on the battlefield and you can understand why his men call him the Lion. He started slowly surveying the bedlam around him. The ground on the particular stretch of road was currently cluttered with bodies missing limbs, and a corresponding number of limbs missing bodies.

"Well Ric, that's another group of bandits taken care of."

"I've told you before not to call me Ric" sighed the man leaning on a tree. "My mother and father went to the trouble of naming me, please don't ignore all that work they put in and call me Godric."

With this said, he looked up from the carnage into the eyes of his fellow knight and friend. Shifting his eyes he counted how many men were still standing, the numbers were better than expected, but not as good as desired.

"How many did we lose?"

"Three dead, two injured beyond help and five that'll need time to heal."

"Alright, let's collect everyone and head home. I'm sure my father will want to hear our report, and I need to talk to the families of these men." Godric pushed off the tree with a little effort.

—

Slowly riding through the gate and onto the grounds of a moderately luxurious manor, Godric looked around and finally started to relax as the feeling of "home" started settling in. The smell of the flowers from the gardens reminding him of his mother and a time before he had to defend his homelands.

The last five years had been hard on him. Yes, he had been trained in swordplay and all the other disciplines necessary to be a knight, but all the training in the world can't prepare you for actually taking a life. And there was no training in how to deal with losing friends. It had been five years since this self styled Lord Deus had announced himself and started uniting the bandit gangs.

In all these years, not once have they been able to corner this Lord. Every time Godric felt like he was close, Deus just seemed to melt away into the shadows. This helped grow his mystique and created an awe amongst his followers and unease and fear in his enemies.

What only Godric and a select handful of people knew however, was that Deus was in fact a wizard. Godric kept this information on a need to know basis due to the superstitious attitude prevalent in the common people. Those same people that trusted Godric with their life and the lives of their families, would turn on him in a heartbeat if _he_ was ever exposed as being a wizard.

Godric saw the destruction that could be wrought by the masses first hand when he was a young child. His father made sure he saw the people dragging what just the day before were friends and family from their homes violently. He watched helplessly as there was no trial, no proof provided, just suspicion and hearsay. The mob jeered as they strung up former drinking buddies and their children's young friends to posts in the main square. He was forbidden from looking away as the fires were lit and the screams ripped through the air.

"This is why our magic must remain a secret my son," his father told him with I shed tears in his own eyes. "The church has taught the commoners that magic is only given by demons and can only be used for evil. They don't know any better and as such they fear it. And fear, well fear is the greatest motivator of destruction."

Godric vowed to himself right there that he'd try to better this world, he'd try to educate at least the families of people with magic that it wasn't an evil possession, but rather a gift given. He would remove the ignorance and the fear and create a safe world for people like him and his parents. For all people with magic.

Of course back then he had never heard of Lord Deus. He had never seen a person with Magic's gift use it for anything other than good and beneficial reasons. Deus used his magic to remove a person's will and force them to do his bidding. He tortured and maimed, raped and killed, and all with magic.

This alone drove Godric to want to destroy him. How dare he turn such a beautiful thing like magic to such ugly actions? Godric found Deus to be more repugnant than the people who feared magic, for where their actions are driven by fear and ignorance, Deus did not have this excuse. He _knew_ his magic hadn't been a deal with a devil, he _knew_ he could do good with it, but he _chose_ to be repulsive, he _chose_ to be vile, he _chose_ to be evil. And for this, for choosing to turn the gift his parents had taught him about, the gift he had seen perform wonders, to see someone choose to turn it to such malicious and selfish acts, was in Godric's mind, unforgivable.

Godric has taken the time to slowly introduce magic to his closest confidants. It took him weeks to convince them he wasn't crazy or possessed. He showed them the wonders that could be achieved. His mother's potions that could help cure fevers and calm the distraught. His father's ability to change objects into anything he wanted, to move from one place to another almost instantly. His own abilities that he used in combat to gently push away a strike that would have been fatal or create a wind gust at just the right times to shift an arrow's trajectory to ensure it didn't catch him. He displayed his very minor healing talents by calming injured friends and slowing blood loss as well as he could until they were able to reach a doctor.

It took even longer for them to be around him using magic without fear in their eyes, but now they were his stoutest supporters. They were his generals and lieutenants and they helped lead his force against the bandits without revealing his secrets.

All these thoughts, memories and feelings went through his head on the jaunt to his family's manor. After dismounting and handing off his horse to the stable boys. He entered his home in search of his parents.

"Godric darling, we're in the tea room" drifted the melodious sound of his mother's voice.

Upon entering said tea room, he noticed his parents were not alone. With them sat a man who was older than himself, but significantly younger than his parents. This man was slender, not too thin, just trim. He had dark hair pulled back in a ponytail and a short goatee. His emerald green eyes seemed to glow under his prominent eyebrows. As he stood up Godric realized they were of a similar height.

"Hello there, you must be Godric," his voice was low, but not menacing. It reminded Godric of the rustle of the undergrowth as an animal moved through it. "I hear you are having a problem with a monster calling himself Deus." Deus was said with such venom that Godric knew there was something personal involved. "I've hunted him for years, I want him destroyed and I've decided the best way to do that is to offer my services to you and your family."

Was this guy crazy? "And what pray tell do you think you can offer that my other knights cannot? Why do you feel you would be so beneficial in this fight?"

The man chuckled slightly, "Let me introduce myself and then I'll explain. My name is Salazar Slytherin."


	2. Chapter 2:Salazar

As he left the stables, after ensuring his carriages and horses were in good hands, the man noticed the sun setting throwing a golden red hue across the sky reminding him of his wife's hair. Starting his slow walk home, he reminisced about his life to this point.

—

Growing up an orphan left only a few options, he could turn to a life of petty crime and try not to get caught, or he could work doing odd jobs and try to build a name for himself. Having seen the results of being caught as a criminal, vagrants missing hands or with brands burned on their face showed the world they were untrustworthy. This led the young man to decide work was the way to go. He was able to get a job cleaning the stables and carriages for traveling traders.

However, he wasn't content to just work and survive, he decided he was going to become the best at each level and earn himself a promotion until he was the best and eventually had his own carriages as the premier merchant.

He discovered at an early age he could do things others couldn't. He was able to call tools that were out of reach to him, calm agitated animals with a thought, convince people to agree with him, and strangest of all, he could understand and converse with snakes of all types.

He kept these abilities to himself after seeing a group of people burned for witchcraft. What he didn't know while witnessing this act was that in another part of the country a young child was a spectator of a very similar occurrence.

He used most of these abilities to rise through the ranks at a phenomenal rate. He didn't try to control anyone's opinion or make them believe something because that proved nothing. He wanted to be recognized as the best, nor force people to have the opinion that he was. What was the point of being the best if you weren't really the best? He always believed you should use your abilities to make yourself better, not others worse.

Now that's not to say he felt he was above taking shortcuts or manipulating situations to his advantage, he just didn't mess around in people's heads.

He planned out his performance at work to get the best outcome. He always did the job good enough that there was no room for complaints, but only excelled when the guy two positions above him was there. He knew that the guy right above him would never promote him because that would be his job. So he always made sure that the best results were reached when the right people were around.

Over the years he went from shoveling manure onto carts to cleaning and maintaining the stables to taking care of saddles and horses. Throughout his time, he studied and trained his magic and his martial abilities with the bo staff. He saved as much of his pay as he could, only spending the minimum on his necessities.

By his late teens he had become a guard for the caravans. This allowed him to continue his training against real enemies, and make more money. After a few more years like this he finally had his seed money. He bought his own carriage and horse and using contacts made over the years he was able to fill the carriage with his initial order of merchandise.

It only took a year before Salazar had multiple carriages going to separate locations and employees to ensure everything ran smoothly. By this point he only went on the occasional trip.

It was on one of these trips where he saw a set of parents actually drag their child out to the main square of a village and tie them to a stake for being a wizard. He wanted to stop them, but the crowd was too large for anything he could do to be effective. He forced himself to watch as the kids own family lit the torch that ended his young life too early.

It was also on one of these trips where he met an angel. She was everything he could look for in a partner. She was beautiful, intelligent, driven and had just enough magical talent to understand what was going on when he performed some feat. Plus, she thought he was an idiot at first, and he thought that was great. It showed him she didn't see his money or company.

He tried being smooth and she ignored him. He tried eloquence and she scoffed. He tried being kind and she shrugged it off. He finally won her over by being corny.

"If beauty were time, you'd be eternity."

The corners of her mouth twitched.

"Do you have a name or can I call you mine?"

Her eyes started twinkling.

"Are you religious? Because you're the answer to all my prayers."

Definitely a full smile.

"Do you believe in love at first sight, or should I walk past again?"

She finally broke at this. Laughing she introduced herself and from there they hit it off fabulously. It only took him three months before he proposed, and another two before they were wed. A year later they introduced their first child, a little girl named Annis, which meant pure.

—-

He was now on his way home after a trip and increasing his pace with anticipation of seeing his now three year old daughter.

As he got closer he realized the golden red hue of the sky wasn't from a sunset, but from a fire. A house was burning, _his_ house was burning. There were bodies everywhere. Employees, villagers, friends, even guardsmen. Then he saw it. The image that destroyed all his hard work, blanked his mind, and severed his soul.

There on the ground laid his daughter, her head caved in. Next to her was his wife, her clothes torn away, body savaged, throat cut.

A guttural scream ripped from him so viciously that his throat was damaged.

As his yell died out he heard a groan from nearby. Looking around he noticed someone he didn't recognize holding his intestines in with his hands.

"Who are you? What happened?" Salazar asked

"Deus."

"What?"

"Deus led us here." He whispered between coughs. "Please, finish me."

"No, I don't think I will. Who or what is Deus?"

"Please, I'll tell you, but give me a quick death. End the pain."

"Talk"

"Deus is power, he creates stuff out of thin air and kills with a word. He has united the bandits and created an army. Now please, finish me."

"Why here? Why attack this town?"

"It was not heavily guarded, it was good training. Please god finish it."

"Training? You killed my wife and daughter for training?" Salazar asked, the absurdity of the question obvious in his tone.

"No, I don't think God will be merciful with you, and I definitely won't. You'll lay there and bleed out slowly. But don't worry, I'll stay here and make sure no wild animals come around to finish you off early."

"Nnnooooooo…" came the pitiful response.

Using his magic, Salazar dug graves for the dead in what was his front yard. Well, for all but three of the dead. Two of them got a hand dug grave to share so that they could spend eternity with each other. The third, well once he stopped making those pathetic whining noises he would be burned.

After the burials, and disposal of the bandit, Salazar started readying himself for his revenge. He hardened what was left of his heart, and strengthened his resolve. He would hunt down this Deus character and remove him from this plain so he wouldn't be able to bring this pain to others. Nothing had ever consumed this way, his ambitions fell away as revenge became his everything.

Picking up his staff Salazar made his way back to the stables. While there he gave control of the company over to his second in command, saddled his horse and began a journey of vengeance.

He spent the next couple years tracking down anyone that had been involved in the attack on his home. He didn't send the offenders to jail, he sent them to the afterlife using a mix of physical and magical means.

It took six years, but he finally ferreted out where Deus has gone to ground. He had taken his army of thugs and criminals, and established his camp in the Gryffindor's territory.

He knew of the Gryffindors through his business contacts and everyone agreed they were honorable people that would do whatever it took to protect those that followed them. It seems this was true as their heir Godric had been fighting for the last five years against this stain on humanity.

With this knowledge, Salazar decided it would be more advantageous to join with young Godric rather than try to go through all the bandits on his own. He used his contacts to set up a meeting with the family.

Salazar had just sat down to his meeting with the Lord and Lady Gryffindor when he heard the door open in the other room. After being called in, he saw a young man who looked fierce enter. Sizing him up he noticed a lack of guile in his eyes, although there was also a hint of mental exhaustion there. Looking at him Salazar knew if he played the situation right, he could use this man to remove the bandits and clear his path to Deus.

He decided it was time to introduce himself and get this partnership going to where everyone got something out of it. Godric and the Gryffindors got their lands bandit free, well as bandit free as they were before, Salazar got his revenge, and Deus got dead.

—

 **AN: I'm typing this on my phone in my off time, so my updates will be kinda erratic. I won't quit on this until I feel it has a complete ending, just don't expect a new chapter every day or every other day. Thanks for all the encouragement.**


	3. Chapter 3

"Auntie, Auntie know what we get to do today?" Came the excited squeal of a little boy.

Smiling gently at the orphan, a buxom young lady with wavy golden hair patted him on the head.

"What do you get to do today Richard?" She asked him, trying to seem as serious about the situation as he was.

She had been working at this orphanage for several years now as a nurse. She reveled in helping people, and with her talents she was able to heal, fix or save many more people than any other nurse.

You see, this particular woman was able to use magic, and not just moving objects, but healing and making potions. She had met several other magic users over the years and took their accumulated knowledge of healing, whether through spells or potions, and combined it to become the best.

She spent hours on hours working in order to complete her self training after each individual had given her one on one training.

However, she had to keep her skills a secret. The world wasn't ready to know about magic. This was a lesson she had to learn the hard way. Her sister was the price for that knowledge. Having been healed by a witch, she was later burned as one herself while she was away learning.

Richard looked up at her and with all the pomp and circumstance of announcing the King's arrival told her, "We get to go to the library today. Mary told us if we were good we could even borrow a book and make it a re... recurr... something we do all the time."

"Recurring sweetie." She told hm and almost giggled as his head moved up and down so fast she feared it might just come apart from his neck. "Let's go gather the other children and get ready for our trip then."

The orphanage was relatively poor, but the kids were typically well behaved so trips into places such as the library were not usually an issue. In fact, they had figured out that such trips usually allowed the children a sense of normalcy and gave them an avenue to release some tension.

As she traversed the building collecting kids, she noticed who had finished their work, who was still working on it and who had shirked it off. This last group received a disdainful snort from her. Everyone at the orphanage, whether child or staff, knew that to her, there was no excuse for not doing your work in a timely manner to the best of your abilities. She saw it as a waste if someone wasn't willing to put in the hard work and effort to succeed. And no one wanted her to look at them with disappointment in her eyes. Everyone want to impress her, even the kids who had led the hardest lives.

There weren't too many kids going on the trip today, but the ones that were, were excited enough to even cover for the ones that chose not too. It was like watching a new litter of kittens play around with each. Climbing all over each other and bouncing in anticipation like everything was new.

The library was only a few blocks away, which was good considering they had to walk there, all the while corralling the kids and keeping them moving in the right direction.

Just as they were about to reach the library she movement out of the corner of her eye grabbed her attention. "Mary, keep the children moving and get in the library with them, I'll be there shortly. I'm just going to check on this."

 _This_ happened to be several carriages being led into town by weary horses and drivers that looked on the brink of death. And that wasn't taking into account the damage and blood the carriages were covered in.

"Stop," She stepped in front of the lead carriage. It wasn't really dangerous considering they were barely ambling along anyway.

"What happened? How many are hurt? How bad are they hurt?" She fired off questions faster than arrows leaving a bow. Finally seeing into the eyes of the first driver up close, she noticed how blank they were and was genuinely shocked when he was able to answer. He couldn't be more than 14, he shouldn't have eyes like that.

"Bandits attacked us, all of us that lived are hurt, although most of us are old or children. And pretty badly."

"Where are the parents, the working age, people?" She asked.

"Taken for playthings or killed outright." The rasp of his voice warned her that more answers wouldn't be forthcoming.

By this time the librarian and her assistants had come out to see what the commotion was. They were joined by several shop owners and townspeople. They all knew her and respected her, so when she started barking orders, none thought twice about following them.

"Alright, let's get everyone out of the carriages. Those able help those that aren't. Put blankets and canvas on the ground to lay down the ones that need it. I need someone to try and find some bandages and get me some clean water. I'm going to grab my bag from the orphanage." She called all this out with the calm self assurance achieved from years of training and work just as she took off running towards her office.

By time she returned most of the people had been laid out, and only a few were acting ornery and trying to be uncooperative. These ones she looked at and calmly stated, "You can either do as you're told, or leave and risk it on your own because I'm not here to listen to your whining." This had the desired effect as they started calming down and doing as instructed.

As she treated the newcomers, she came across the types of injuries she expected, stabs, cuts bruises and broken bones. However she also came across signs of something else. There were burns that looked liked the fire that caused them was too hot to be normal, skin shredded in a way no blade could and twitching as an after effect of some kind of trauma. She knew this was caused by magic. She knew this, and it drove her into such a rage that she had trouble controlling herself. She mumbled under her breath and cursed whoever would turn a gift that did so much good to such evil purposes.

She made sure to be subtle in the ways she administered her potions and applied her magic so that there was no suspicion of there being anything other than good luck and good care in taking care of the people. But even with her magic, she still wasn't able to save everyone. Three elders, a matron and a child all passed from their wounds and there was nothing she could do. This pained her as if they were her own family moving on.

Once she saw to the last of the victims, she sat back and took a moment to look in her bag. Where once had been potions and bandages, now sat empty bottle and strips of torn cloth. She realized just how exhausted she was when she stumbled trying to stand.

The librarian caught her by the elbow, "Come on, let's get you back to the orphanage so you can rest."

"Not yet, I need to figure this out first." She replied. "Where is your village? How many bandits were there and how did they fight?" She was able to ask one of the more coherent people she had treated.

After getting the information she was looking for she turned to the librarian, "Would you help me to the library so I can help Mary with the kids?"

"Mary and the kids have headed back already." This was when she noticed the sky darkening and dusk settling in.

"Okay then, back to the orphanage and a week long nap it is then," she chuckled.

She didn't sleep for a week, not even close. It was just a few hours later when she woke from a nightmare she hadn't had in months. Her sister's ashes being buried. Why would she remember this now? Oh yeah, magic being used to wound and torture, the exact reason people keep trying to burn magic users.

With the information she was able to glean from the people as she worked on healing them she created a plan. She would let Mary and the kids know later. She was going to hunt down this magic user and remove him herself for perverting her gift. She wouldn't leave yet, she couldn't with her greenhouse and the potions she had going. She had to remove any non-normal plants and finish her potions before disposing of the equipment she uses to make them. She also decided she should rest and replenish her healing pack.

It took her three months, but she was finally ready. She had told Mary and the rest of the staff the night before and the kids just this morning that she was leaving. There was plenty of crying and people trying to convince her to stay.

"There's evil in the world, it's causing pain and sickness and someone needs to lance the wound it caused so we can heal. I'm not much of a fighter alone, but I'm sure someone is already doing that. The Gryffindors are not the type to allow this kind of atrocity to occur on their lands unanswered. What I can do is help heal the injured, provide support for the ones doing the right thing. You know I can't sit back and do nothing, it isn't my nature." She told the staff. The kids wouldn't understand that so she simplified it for them, "There's people who need my help, so I will go help them. You'll all always be in my heart and with the love you've shown me I know I can do this." She told them with tears barely contained in her eyes. The finally fell when with a tug of her skirts she heard a small voice.

"Auntie Helga, I love you." Richard told her.


	4. Chapter 4:Rowena

Rowena had been working as a caregiver for the local Duke's children for just over a year now. She had been _afforded_ the opportunity shortly after reaching her majority. Her parents were so proud of her getting out of the slums and having a place in such an upstanding house.

See, Rowena and her family had grown up in the slums. Her father usually worked the fields for a chance to bring home some of the crops that were a bit over ripe. While her mother would do odd jobs for a few coins here and there. They usually had food on their table, even if it was typically a soup using said over ripe produce. They could almost never afford meat, so Rowena saw it as a luxury that was to be treasured.

If they only knew why she was really there. The Duke saw her as a potential toy for his nighttime games. Even though she had grown up poor and somewhat underfed, Rowena was a gorgeous girl that couldn't hide her looks in threadbare clothes that rarely fit. As such, the local Duke, being the pig that most nobility turned out to be in Rowena's mind, felt that getting her into his house would get him his prize,

Luckily she had her magic and no one knew about it. With it she was able to keep him confused every time he decided to try and make a move on her.

The casual observer wouldn't understand why she was willing to stay in a position that placed her in danger of being taken like that. Some may say it was because she cared for the children, or that she was sending her wages back home in order to take care of her parents and siblings. " _Well,"_ she thought to herself, " _Some would be very wrong wouldn't they."_

Rowena didn't feel those bonds like others seemed to. She wasn't sure if something was wrong with her, but while she felt like she loved her family, she didn't feel like it was her responsibility to take care of them just because she was able. She definitely didn't think she should sacrifice herself for just the opportunity to send them some money.

Okay, she did send some money back to them, but it wasn't all of her wages, not even close. It was enough to maybe add some meat to their table once a week or so.

Rowena had goals in life, and taking care of someone else's children didn't fit into those goals. She wanted to be acknowledged for her abilities, both magic and non-magic.

See, magic wasn't the only talent Rowena had that she kept hidden. There was another thing about her that would get her shunned at the least and burned at the most, she was smart. Not just kind of smart, but truly intelligent. And she loved learning. She learned how to fix things around the house and how to cook just like any female was expected to, not because she was expected to, but because it was something that she could use to improve her life. Unlike other women though, she learned how to read and write and do math. Being a woman this was unheard of and seen as _getting above her station_.

What most people overlooked was that the Duke had an extensive library that included everything from children's stories to complicated manuals on how different aspects of the world worked. When she had some down time she would sneak into the library and read to her heart's content. And when she was alone, she would consider everything she had learned and try to figure out some way to apply it to life and real situations, because what was the point of knowledge that wasn't being put to use in some productive manner?

Rowena knew this placement was just temporary for her, even if no one else did. She had heard stories from the local orphanage of a Lord that didn't believe that a learned woman was evil. Her friend Helga had explained that the Gryffindor family tried to be fair to everyone as long as they followed the law. Of course her friend Helga also had magic even though she tried to hide it from her. Seeing her heal with it is what led Rowena to talk to her in the first place.

Of course noticing that she was trying to keep it hidden meant Rowena couldn't ask her to teach her about it. And oh what torture that was for Rowena who felt an almost unquenchable thirst to learn something new.

The first conversation slowly developed into a true friendship. Between Helga's hard work and dedication to her calling and Rowena trying to learn everything she could, they devoured all the knowledge they safely could without raising suspicions from the other villagers about their individual talents and daily tasks.

It was just two months ago when Rowena discovered that the end of her current position was closer than she expected. When a caravan of injured people came rolling into town and Helga helped take care of the ones she could. This ended up being a major turning point in Rowena's life, even though she wasn't present when it happened.

Having heard about it, she knew Helga would be heart sore and berating herself for those she had been unable to help, so she decided to visit.

Upon her arrival to the orphanage on one of her rare days off she noticed the garden looking uncharacteristically bare. She knew Helga would never allow her garden to fall into disrepair and slowly started coming up with theories. The most likely being that either Helga was moving the garden to another location or she was leaving and decided that she couldn't leave her plants out for just anyone to mess with.

She figured the best way to get the answer would be to ask her directly, so she entered the orphanage proper.

She could feel the mood. It was palpable and sat heavy on the whole building. This made her decide that the answer must be that Helga was leaving and that the kids were not taking it well.

"Helga dear, I'm here." she called out.

She heard the rustle of cloth and the sound of a book being placed on a table, followed by "Back here Ro."

"So, when are you leaving and where are you heading to?" Rowena was nothing if not straight to the point.

Helga just stared at her with her mouth agape.

"Oh please, with your garden in its current state and the mood of the orphanage, it wasn't that hard to figure out. I'm even willing to wager that it has something to do with those people that you had to work on the other day." Rowena said with a smirk.

"Argh, I just can't keep a secret from you can I?" Helga sighed. "Yes, I am leaving as soon as I get all my affairs in order. And I'll being heading to Lord Gryffindor's lands in order to help with this bandit infestation he seems to have."

This wiped the smirk right off of Rowena's face just like Helga knew the casual reference of her philosophical hero would.

"Gryffindor you say? And you're going to help with the bandits?" She asked, her mind trying to formulate a plan that would get her included in the trip.

"It's going to be rough trip, especially for a lone woman traveller. How about I go with you? There is always safety in numbers, and being my dear friend I wouldn't feel right letting you face these hazards on your own." Rowena said with an almost self sacrificing tone. Which, if it had not been Helga hearing it would have sounded sincere. However, Helga knew better, and decided this was a good chance to mess with her friend.

"I think I can handle myself Ro. I wouldn't want to burden you or take you away from your current position. I know how hard it is to obtain a dependable place in a successful house." Helga was barely able to maintain a straight face as she saw Rowena start panicking.

"But Hel, please, its Gryffindor. A place where my intelligence won't be a hindrance or seen as a negative attribute. You have to let me go."

Feeling like her friend had suffered enough Helga decided to put her out of her mercy, "I was planning on asking you to accompany me anyway Ro. I wouldn't dream of visiting the Gryffindors without taking you."

This about brought tears to Rowena's eyes, "Thank you, Thank you."

Rowena felt that telling the Duke would be a very bad idea as he still had not given up on getting into her bed and knowing he was working with a deadline might push him into doing something drastic. So she didn't tell anyone she was planning on accompanying Helga. Although she did start sneaking some of the more rare books into the bags she was packing. She knew they wouldn't be missed as she was the only person in the house that visited the library.

Rowena had written a note to both her family and the Duke to explain everything for when she left. Her days to herself were spent with Helga planning the trip. Helga found this humorous as her friend refused to do anything spontaneous if she could avoid it.

"You would make a plan in order to make plans if you could." She joked.

Rowena felt she was ready for the next chapter in her life, and was just waiting on word from Helga that it was time.

 **AN: This was the hardest to write because I couldn't figure out how I wanted to describe Rowena without just following the stereotype of wisdom. I wanted her young and ambitious and eager. Now that all 4 founders I was originally going to end it there and leave it open, but I think I will keep going up until they actually create the school. I have some plot points in mind that I think will be good. However I still haven't decided how I will make them come up with the name Hogwarts.**


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